Consumers are increasingly using kiosks to conduct business with enterprises. The kiosks come in a variety of sizes and are used for a variety of purposes. Some kiosks are drive through, such as fast food establishments, pharmacies, banks, and the like. Other kiosks are stationary located in gas stations, airlines, grocery stores, department stores, and the like.
In addition, what is considered a kiosk is evolving with today's technology. For example, digital signs now provide advertisements and mechanisms for users to interact with the displays to perform transactions. Such mechanisms include blue tooth communication, Near Field Communication (NFC), Quick Response (QR) code scanning, WiFi communication, and the like.
So, increasingly customers are engaging in a variety of technologies to automatically interact with enterprises to perform transactions. The transactions may result in purchases or may result in such things as registration for loyalty programs, enrolling in promotional events, requesting additional information for a good or service, and others. That is, the transactions via these kiosks are not strictly tied to purchases although some transactions are purchase related.
As kiosks become more pervasive in today's marketplace, more and more people with disabilities are being left behind because the interfaces of most kiosks do not adequately account for an individual's disabilities.
As a result, the government is pressing more and more for kiosks to become compliant with the American with Disabilities Act (ADA). Heretofore, the industry has resisted compliance due to the perceived cost associated with redoing and redeploying interfaces for existing kiosks. Thus, very few kiosks properly comply with what the government considers appropriate for individuals with disabilities, such as the sight impaired.
Also, when someone with a disability is unable to access goods and services on his/her own they become more dependent on society or loved ones and add to the cost that society must pay to care for him/her.